In the Blink of an Eye
by ReneyyySprouse
Summary: When you share a friendship with somebody for thirty years, you're bound to butt heads and disagree every now and again. But you always bounce back, even from the biggest arguments. Always. Especially before it's too late. Right? - A Rhett & Link/GMM fanfic.
1. Part I

x-x-x

 _ **In the Blink of an Eye.  
**_ **Part I**

x-x-x

The usual upbeat feeling on set had suddenly come to a screeching halt. There was a tension in the air that could easily be sliced with any knife. The vibrant colours that splattered all the items and pictures hanging off the back wall seemed to be dulled by how severely the mood had dropped. And five or six pairs of nervous eyes gawked at each other, none of them too sure about who should open their mouth or what they should possibly even say.

Finally breaking the silence that filled the room, Stevie quietly cleared her throat, "Uh… guys, it's barely been four minutes."

Following her lead, Eddie took a subtle glance at the camera. Just as always, it had kept rolling in order to record about ten minutes of completely random conversation to be used for Good Mythical More. But something told him and the rest of the crew that usual operations weren't going to be running so smoothly today.

"Should, um," Eddie stuttered, "Should we just cut it there?"

Almost immediately, Link bolted up from his seat.

"Yeah, thank God!"

The instant volume of Link's voice shattered the set as he scraped his chair back and made a beeline for the doorway. Stevie, Eddie and the rest of the crew cringed as they watched on, while back at the wooden table in the centre of the room, the taller, blonde man could only roll his eyes.

"Is he serious?" Rhett muttered to himself under his breath before finally deciding to jump up and follow him, "Link!"

Without looking back, Link barged into the studio kitchen, glancing over to the lounge area right beside it. He took a second or two to calm his heated nerves before licking his lips to speak, "C'mon, Lando, let's roll, buddy."

Looking up through his blonde, curly mess, Lando stared at his dad. He and Shepherd were spilled out on the floor together along with a box of Lego, while Locke was sat in one of the bright red arm chairs playing with a hand held video game.

The five year old boy frowned, "Why?"

"Because, bud, we're just leaving," Link answered, trying to control his temper. Within the next moment, Rhett appeared behind him in the kitchen, causing the darker haired man to grit his teeth together, turning back to his son, "Now."

Sitting at the kitchen bench, Jen and Becca subtly glanced up from where they had been keeping an eye on all three of the boys while they played. Link looked over his shoulder at them, "Can you two just make sure to lock up properly this afternoon?" he asked.

As they quietly nodded their heads, Link hastily shoved his laptop into its case and gathered the rest of his work stuff into his bag. He slung it over his shoulder, and then quickly hurried Lando along towards the staircase to exit the studio.

The blatant silence from him was absolutely deafening to Rhett, but before he could even dare to call his best friend's name again, the taller man was abruptly cut off by the small voice of one of his own boys, "What's going on?" Locke asked with a confused tone.

Rhett could only bite his tongue. He wasn't exactly sure how to answer what his son had asked him. He and Link had always butted heads every now and again in the past, but this kind of incident – which was now seemingly turning into a full blown argument – was one that Rhett didn't have the first clue how to explain.

The sound of the large double doors slamming back into place downstairs suddenly snapped the older of the two men out of his trance as he simply shook his head and looked to his boys, "C'mon, guys, we gotta' go catch up to him."

By this point, it was painfully obvious to anyone within breathing range of the two of them that Rhett and Link were not currently encapsulated by one of their finer moments. In fact, for about the past week, they had been constantly snapping at one another and bickering over stupid stuff more and more each day. The tension between them had been building – building more, ever so slowly, ever since a mistake that had taken place the previous week.

The comedic duo were on the verge of releasing yet another new music video to their main YouTube channel. It was always exciting for the both of them every time they produced a new masterpiece. Not only was it fun to do, and even more worthwhile to see all the positive reactions from the Mythical Beasts, but from a business standpoint, their music videos also made the two of them a nice, healthy chunk of money. Only this time, right when the video was just in the final draft stages – Link had somehow managed to accidentally corrupt the file.

A countless amount of time, effort and money was suddenly gone in a mere fraction of a milisecond. And while Rhett never once openly came out and blamed Link for what had happened, both of their frustrations were quickly beginning to speak otherwise.

Chasing him down the stairs, Rhett held the door open for Locke and Shepherd. He narrowed his eyes across the parking lot, just managing to spot Link putting Lando into the backseat of his minivan.

It was Friday, and on that particular weekend, Jessie and Christy had gone away for a girls' trip, taking Lily with them. As well as that, Lincoln was at a friend's house for the day, leaving Rhett and Link to take the other three boys along with them to work that morning. The plan all along had been to only do a half-day's work – just enough time to film Good Mythical Morning – but now their day was being cut a lot shorter than either of them were anticipating.

Finally arriving back within ear's reach to his friend, Rhett opened his mouth, "Well, that was embarrassingly unprofessional."

Right as he placed Lando into his booster seat, Link glared absolute daggers at Rhett, "I can't have embarrassed myself much more than how much _you_ embarrassed me just now!"

Rhett heaved his shoulders in a defeated shrug, "What are you talking about?"

"We said that we'd use Good Mythical More to explain why the music video was gonna' be delayed," the younger man started, "But you never let on that you were just gonna' sit there and put all the blame on me!"

Letting this argument settle into the back of his mind for a moment, Rhett soon scoffed in disbelief, shaking his head, "What, so you're blaming me for the comments you're gonna' get from a couple of people?"

" _Seven million_ people, Rhett!" Link clarified, "Seven million people who already have pretty strong opinions about the both of us, and I'd hazard to say that you haven't really done the ones about me any favours."

The short and sharp tone from Link threw Rhett back in total disbelief. The amount of times that they had both made fun of each other during a number of episodes of Good Mythical Morning, and this was the incident that Link was seriously choosing to react to? It's not as if Rhett had pointed his finger right into his friend's face and commanded that all the Mythical Beasts blame Link for the delay of the new video – he had only been messing around with him. But now, the more Rhett continued to consider how much Link was over reacting, the angrier it was only making him, as well.

Huffing out a loud, agitated breath, Rhett bit his tongue and instead began to usher Locke and Shepherd into the car he had driven to the studio. As if their Friday hadn't already been inconveniently interrupted enough, they hadn't been able to carpool that morning as Link's minivan was jammed full of props and part of the set from their music video. Rhett and the boys had instead come in the truck that he and Link had purchased together for their weekend off-roading adventures.

But as of right at that very moment, Rhett was pretty damn relieved that he and Link wouldn't have to endure a car ride home together that afternoon.

Swallowing his pride, Rhett brought his voice to an emotionless mutter, "Are you still gonna' drop all that set stuff off at my place?"

"Uh huh," Link spat, sliding the back passenger door across and slamming it into place, "I don't want your crap sitting in my car all weekend."

Instantly, Rhett laughed with another cynical scoff, "Jesus, man!"

"I'm serious, Rhett!"

By this point, Locke and Shepherd were exchanging a nervous glance with one another. They knew that their dad and his best friend both had a short temper and could get annoyed with each other sometimes. But neither of the boys had ever heard Rhett and Link argue like this. Ever.

"Honestly," Link went on, just as infuriated, "I've never been so close to calling it a wrap in the middle of an episode with you in my life!"

"Well, why stop there, man?" Rhett challenged, "Why not just call it a wrap on this whole entire thing if that's how you really feel?"

The insulting and patronising words that flowed so easily from between Rhett's lips made something inside of Link suddenly snap. His whipped his neck around, glaring at his friend as the tall, bearded man leant casually up against the passenger door of the truck. His face read completely blank, with not even the slimmest hint of remorse towards what he had just spoken. And it only made Link even more furious.

"Oh my God, dude, you are such an – "

The two kept their eyes brutally locked as Rhett braced himself for what Link may have been about to say. However, the precise second that the younger man had cut himself off, Rhett raised a curious eyebrow at Link. The dark haired man was clearly trying to hold his tongue as he peered through his glasses at the open back door of the truck where Locke and Shepherd could still clearly hear every word that was being said.

Following his gaze, Rhett rolled his eyes. He tried to ignore the looks on concern on the faces of his boys, as he gently pushed the door shut and pierced Link with his vision once more, "Yes?"

Slowly shaking his head, Link shrugged his shoulders. The fury he felt bubbling in his stomach was so severe that he could only bring his voice to a cold, solemn grumble, "You can just be the biggest asshole sometimes, man."

A stabbing feeling immediately twinged sharply in the pit of Rhett's guts. As much as the painful word echoed in the back of the older man's mind, he didn't allow any emotion to cross his face. Instead, he simply held the same belittling smile as he shook his head back and forth, "God, you're dramatic."

At his absolute wit's end, Link marched around to the driver's door of the minivan and tore it open. Both of their arguments were exhausted, and quite frankly, Link just wasn't prepared to fight anymore.

"Screw you, Rhett," he sniped, taking his seat and roaring the engine to life.

Watching the minivan pull out of the studio parking lot, Rhett remained still for a moment. He tried to go over in his head everything that he and Link had just spoken to each other, but the whole occurrence had flashed by so quickly and heatedly that it all seemed like a blur now.

Deciding it best to just try and shake off the thought, Rhett took the keys to the truck out of his pocket and climbed into the driver's seat. As he adjusted the rear view mirror, he stared back at Locke and Shepherd.

"Did you tighten his seatbelt for him?"

Gazing up to meet his dad's reflection, Locke quickly looked down to where Shepherd was strapped into the middle seat before quietly nodding his head, "Mhm."

For a split second, Rhett felt himself frown as he backed out of the studio parking lot. Both of his boys were usually much more talkative than this, but soon enough, the blonde man fell back to silence. He was far too consumed with thoughts of his fight with Link to focus on anything else in that moment.

He didn't feel particularly guilty. He didn't even have any real reason to. Did he? Rhett knew that he and his best friend had been treading on thin ice with one another as of late, and maybe he had been just a bit of a jerk. But surely that didn't excuse Link from freaking out on his so badly. Surely…

"I still get to hang out with Lincoln."

As his train of thought was hastily derailed, Rhett blinked a few times before he looked up at the mirror once more and gazed back at Locke in confusion.

"What?" he asked, surprised to hear his eldest son's voice.

Angrily, the eleven year old crossed his arms over his chest, "Just because you and Link aren't friends anymore doesn't mean that I don't get to stay friends with Lincoln, too."

A small chuckle escaped Rhett, "What?" he repeated, "What, no, buddy. We're not _not_ friends anymore, we just…" he trailed off, trying to decide how best to explain himself, "We just had a fight."

Locke's retort was immediate, "Well, best friends aren't 'sposed to fight like that."

As they suddenly pulled up to a red light, Rhett groaned softly to himself and ran his hand down his face. Had he really just been put in his place by his eleven year old son? Glancing over at Link's minivan, the blonde man found that he was stopped at the traffic lights now, as well.

Rhett was in the right lane, two cars away from the intersection. He had his indicator on, ready to turn down his street, while Link was at the front of the left lane, waiting to drive straight through it. As much as the dark haired man wished that he could just go and pick up Lincoln from his friend's house and then drive home, he knew that once he had both his boys he still needed to drop into Rhett's house first.

The feeling of disconnect was bizarre. In thirty years of friendship, the two hadn't quite come to blows like this before. Maybe it had something to do with how much older they were getting. They had a million and one things on their plate now – along with the show and their main channel content and their families and travelling back to North Carolina twice or three times a year, both Rhett and Link were under more stress than either of them had ever been before.

But still, despite the uncertainties around why they had been arguing, there was one thing that Rhett could be certain of. And that was he sure as hell wasn't going to be apologising to Link for this one.

As the light turned green, and Rhett prepared to round the corner and head down his street, he completely refocused on the road in front of him. He touched his foot to the accelerator ever-so-slightly, watching the car in front of his start to turn the corner, until all of a sudden, it slammed on its brakes. Before he could even question what the holdup was, a terrifyingly loud screeching sound from the other side of the intersection caused Rhett to snap his neck around to the left.

And then, Rhett felt his heart stop.

The second that the light had turned green, Link had taken off from the white line and into the middle of the road, only to have a complete maniac of a driver run their red light and plough straight into the left hand side of the minivan.

Rhett's eyes widened in shock and disbelief as the minivan spun out at a one hundred and eighty degree angle before flipping onto its side and rolling onto the roof. The fearful yelling and shouting from Locke and Shepherd in the backseat was completely drowned out by Rhett's own inner torturous screams. The whole ordeal seemed to stretch on for an eternity, but the exact moment that it was all over, and the minivan slid across the asphalt in an array of sparks on its roof, Rhett snapped out of his trance of denial.

This couldn't be happening.

"Link!"

x-x-x


	2. Part II

x-x-x

 ** _In the Blink of an Eye.  
_ Part II**

x-x-x

The piercing tone of Rhett's voice that resonated within the small space of the truck was filled with the most terror that he had ever possibly succumb to. His mind immediately started racing, consuming itself with a million frantic questions. Was Link okay? Did he have his seatbelt on? Was he even going to be conscious in the upturned minivan?

 _How the hell am I going to get him out?_

With this final thought being the most powerful on the forefront of his mind, Rhett's eyes suddenly widened to find that the car in front of him had just inched far enough forward to allow him to wriggle out of his lane and mount the curb. Quickly doing so, he parked onto the footpath, dashed out of the front seat and ran around to the back of the truck, pulling open the door. The distraught expressions on his boys' faces almost completely split Rhett's heart in two.

"Dad – "

"Locke," Rhett hastily cut him off, "Listen to me, buddy, you know the street corner that we're on right now, right?"

Locke froze for a moment before simply gazing out the window as the answer immediately came to him, "Main and Third?"

"Okay, good boy," Rhett spoke, forcing a smile as he pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket, "I need you to call 911, okay?"

Instantly, Locke's expression dropped, "Dad, I can't, I – "

"You can, okay?" Rhett reassured him, "You can – you have to – because I have to go make sure they're okay, okay? Just stay calm and listen to the operator and do everything they tell you, alright?"

A wave of hesitation crossed the small boy. His chest was heaving up and down as he was trying to prevent a mass of fearful tears from falling from his eyes. But as he continued to gaze into the serious and confident expression on his dad's face, Locke soon swallowed a chunk of nerves and slowly nodded his head.

"That's my boy," Rhett said, handing Locke his phone and the car keys, "Keep your seatbelts on, lock the doors, and do not unlock them for anyone who isn't me, understand?"

Both Locke and Shepherd quickly nodded their heads as Rhett reached across and ruffled up the blonde curls of his youngest son, "You look after your big brother, okay?"

Without sparing another second, Rhett shut the back door, watching as the boys locked them all before he took off towards the minivan. The scene of the crash was no more than twenty metres away from where the truck was parked on the curb, but even so, Rhett glanced back at it just one more time. Once he was sure that his boys would be safe, his thoughts immediately fell back onto the issue at hand.

Up until the very moment that Rhett planted his two feet in front of the upturned vehicle, there had only been one name frightfully crossing his mind. But as soon as he came within an arm's reach of the backseat, the image of a much more important face became overwhelmingly apparent to him.

"Move!" he yelled to the two or three people already knelt around the vehicle. As he got down on the ground and peered into the smashed back window of the minivan, Rhett took a deep breath to calm his terrified nerves and prepared himself for what he could have been about to see.

"…Lando?"

The crying and screeching sounds from his best friend's youngest son were instantaneous. As awful as it may have been to hear him so distressed, Rhett couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Thank God he was okay.

"Lando, Lando, come on buddy, it's me, you're okay," Rhett tried to soothe him.

"Rhett?!"

Looking over to the driver's seat, Rhett felt a second wave of reprieve overcome him to see and hear Link dangling in the front of the car.

"Rhett," he repeated with horrible desperation, "You gotta' get him out, man, get him out of the car!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Rhett snapped back, trying to keep his voice to a low volume. He knew how sensitive Lando was – hell, he was only five years old. If Rhett wanted to keep him calm and get him out the car as slowly and safely as possible, Link honestly and quite blatantly needed to just shut his mouth.

"I've got him," Rhett spoke firmly, "How about you just concentrate on getting yourself out?"

"I can't, dude, it's my leg, it's… argh…"

The painful tones in his friend's voice made Rhett shudder. It was only now that he was noticing just how mangled the front of the car was, and it instantly made him expect the worst, "Oh my God…"

"No, no, it's okay, it's not, like, completely crushed or anything," Link called back to him, "It's just… jammed… real bad."

By now, the sounds of Lando's crying was making it near impossible for Rhett to focus on anything else. As much as he couldn't stand the thought of Link being helplessly trapped in the front seat, he knew that there was nothing he could do for him right then and there. And besides, Lando needed him.

"Hey, Lando, c'mon bud, it's okay," he started again, "Buddy, I'm gonna' get you out, but you gotta' just calm down a bit and listen to me. Dad's up the front freaking out like a big baby, so you gotta' be man enough for the both of you right now, alright?"

The gentle sound of a familiar, joking voice was slowly beginning to make the majority of Lando's panic subside. But he was still hanging upside down in his booster seat, and all he could see around him was smoke and broken glass. His bottom lip began to wobble once more before Rhett brought his voice back to life.

"Lando, I can unclip you and pull you down, but I gotta' make sure you're not hurt first. If you're hurt and I move you, you could get more hurt, okay?"

Locking his eyes with the baby blues of the little boy just an arm span away from him, Rhett shot Lando a supportive grin, "Does your neck hurt, or your head?"

The extreme vigour that Lando was able to shake his head with quickly answered that question as Rhett chuckled, "Okay, good, and your fingers and your toes, you can move them, too?"

With a sniffily nose and watery eyes, Lando nodded his head as he waved his hands towards Rhett, causing the gentle giant to smile once more. Now the only thing left to do was to get him out.

"Give me two seconds, buddy."

Quickly leaning up on his knees, Rhett shrugged out of his jacket and lay it on the ground by Lando, on top of all the broken glass that he could see. Then, curling his body up as tightly as he could manage, Rhett lay down, stretching across the jacket so that his face was directly under Lando's small, dangling frame. Rhett looked up at him, trying as hard as he possibly could to keep his cool.

"Okay, Lando, I'm gonna' unclip you, and then you just gotta' slowly fall down on top of me, alright? Then we can both wriggle our way out of here."

Link was trembling in nervousness at the sound of his friend's instructions to his son. There was a long crack right down the middle of the rear view mirror, and his glasses were lost and smashed off to the side somewhere. But even so, as Link stared into the broken glass, he was able to make out the absolute relieving image of Lando safely landing down from his seat onto Rhett's chest. The younger man breathed out a heavy sigh as he watched his best friend wrap one arm around his son as firmly as he could as he began to shuffle the both of them out through the broken window.

"Rhett," Link called back at the last moment before they were free, "Don't leave him."

The combination of hearing Link's words and seeing Lando safely back out in the open air with him caused an overwhelming sense of emotion to cross over Rhett. As he lay out on the asphalt road with the small framed boy still resting on top on him, Rhett's eyes squinted as he gazed up into the California sun. And for a moment, as a number of sirens and flashing blue and red lights finally appeared in the background, he could only lay there, completely still.

His adrenalin was beginning to fade as he thought about the near fate of the little boy that he, too, had grown to love over the entire five years of his existence. Remaining on the ground, Rhett resisted a terrified tremour as he brought both his arms up and simply hugged Lando securely against his torso.

"Thank God…"

Before the comforting thought had even properly left him, the light from the sun was suddenly blocked out as a man in a white shirt and navy pants appeared above Rhett, carefully trying to sit him up.

"Sir, are you okay? Can you tell me your name?"

Snapping out of his bemused trance, Rhett gawked up at the paramedic and quickly shook his head, "Oh, no," he stuttered, "No, no, I wasn't in the accident, it was just him and his dad."

Gesturing down towards Lando, Rhett kept one comforting arm around him as the little boy clung to his shirt.

"Alright, then," the paramedic spoke again, "Can you tell me your name, little guy?"

The man gazed down at Lando with friendly eyes. Despite how pleasant he seemed, though, he had a short buzz cut and intimidatingly broad shoulders. It was no real surprise when the five year old examined all of this and then chose to stay deathly silent and only nuzzle further into Rhett's chest.

"Lando," Rhett said, answering the man opposite him, "Lando Neal, he's five."

"Okay, Lando, I'm Doctor Graham," he spoke kindly, "Do you think you could come over here to the ambulance with me just so I can check you over?"

Taking note of every uncertain murmur from the little blonde boy, Rhett slowly stood up from the concrete ground and followed Doctor Graham over to where the ambulance had stopped just a couple of metres away. A gurney had been pulled out from the back of it and elevated up to its full height. As Rhett placed Lando down on it, and the doctor began to carefully poke and prod at him to see if he was okay, the tall, blonde man's world began to properly slow back to its normal pace. A lightbulb suddenly flashed on in the back of his mind at the realisation of who was still waiting in his and Link's truck for him to return. Just before acting on this, however, Rhett timidly licked his lips and cleared his throat, gaining Doctor Graham's attention again.

"Uh, so… what about his… what about Lando's dad?"

The tone of dread in Rhett's voice was all too clear to Doctor Graham as he shot him a sympathetic smile before taking a quick look over his shoulder, "The rest of my team are going to have him out in no time," he answered supportively, "I guarantee it. Your friend's going to be just fine."

There was something about the way Doctor Graham worded his response that sent goosebumps ricocheting all the way up Rhett's arms. Now that he could be sure that Lando was safe and okay, there was nothing left for Rhett to do but worry about Link. Well, that and check back up on Locke and Shepherd, of course.

Gently cupping the back of Lando's head with his hand, Rhett lowered his voice, "I'll be right back, buddy, okay?"

The five year old's scared whimpers were immediate, "No…"

"Hey, it's okay, I've just gotta' go and get Locke and Shepherd, alright?" Rhett soothed him, stroking his hair, "I'll only be a minute, I promise."

Swapping a trusting glance with the paramedic, Rhett then quickly turned on his heels and dashed back over towards his truck. He couldn't bear to look at the wreck for a second longer, but as he approached where the culprit had crushed and ultimately ended up, the southern native felt an overwhelming anger consume his soul.

The guilty driver had already been pulled from his vehicle, and looked to be no older than about twenty or twenty-one years old. It took every positive and proud fibre of Rhett's being for him to not make a beeline for the young man and smack him upside the head, but he knew that wasn't going to solve any problems. Besides, he was back within sight of Locke and Shepherd now. And they were what mattered most in that moment.

Their two sets of little eyes hidden by their curly messes widened as they spotted their dad. Locke instantly pressed the button on the car keys, unlocking the doors from where he had manoeuvred himself into the front seat.

As he opened the driver's door, Rhett frowned at his eldest son, "Didn't I tell you to keep your seatbelt on?"

Locke had been all too prepared to immediately ask Rhett if Link and Lando were okay, but the strict, scolding tone in his father's voice had only made him shrink back into his own skin, as it so often did. So enough, though, Rhett allowed his demeanour to change as he glanced down at his son with a softened expression.

"Did you call 911?"

The eager response of Locke nodding his head made an uncontrollable grin grow across Rhett's face as he affectionately ruffled up the brunette boy's hair, "Good boy," he spoke with a sigh of relief, "I'm proud of you."

As he ushered both of his boys out of the car, Rhett took a tight hold of Shepherd's hand and placed an arm around Locke as they strolled back towards the ambulance. Giving his shoulder a loving squeeze, the bearded man couldn't stop smirking happily at his eldest son.

Locke had truly done a great job… no matter how many _other people_ Rhett had actually spotted on their mobile phones at the time of the accident, as far as he was concerned, all the police cars and ambulances had been able to arrive all because of his boy. It made his chest swell with pride as they re-approached Lando where he was waiting for them, still choking on a sad little sob here and there. The five year old seemed to relax a little as he spotted the three familiar faces, causing Rhett to grin affectionately at him.

That was until, all of a sudden, the tall, blonde man felt his heart completely skip a beat.

Just on the other side of the now destroyed minivan, a second figure had finally been successfully pulled from the driver's seat.

All that Rhett could will himself to do was bring his voice to a timid mutter, "Oh my God."

x-x-x


	3. Part III

x-x-x

 _ **In the Blink of an Eye.  
**_ **Part III**

x-x-x

The moment that Rhett had spotted Link, it instantly appeared as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with him.

The dark haired man had been wheeled out from the wreck on a gurney, too, but was now fighting with the paramedics to stay sitting up. Rhett could hear his friend's short tempered attitude angrily rambling on about a number of different things. He didn't need to lie down, he felt fine, he didn't care if there was the possibility of a fractured femur, he _just_ wanted to see his son.

Quickly dropping down to his kids' level, Rhett placed a hand on each of their shoulders, "Guys, just wait right here with the doctor, okay?" he commanded, gazing from Shepherd to Locke, "Look after Lando."

To think that no more than fifteen minutes ago, Rhett had been the one of the receiving end of Link's furious outbursts. But now, none of that mattered. It didn't matter what Link had said to Rhett, and it didn't matter what Rhett had said to Link. Because all that the tall, blonde man could think about was how scared he had been to see his best friend in such a devastating accident.

And not only that, but how scared Rhett had been at the thought of something happening to Link before he had the chance to tell his best friend how sorry he was.

Before Link even realised what was happening to him, his fiery ramblings were abruptly cut off. He breathed out a heavy grunt as he felt a warm, forceful embrace crash into him. Looking up from where he was stubbornly sat on the edge of the gurney, Link quickly realised who it was that was holding him and instantly started hugging Rhett back.

The taller man was sort of bent down so that his shorter friend's head was nestled right in the crook of his neck. A tingling shudder unwillingly escaped Link as he sighed out a shaky breath into Rhett's shoulder.

"You were supposed to just turn off and go home, man."

Rhett was silent for a thoughtful few seconds.

"You honestly think I wasn't going to turn around and come back for you?"

The comforting sentiment made Link's heated exterior absolutely crumble. The pain in his thigh was swiftly becoming all too apparent as his adrenalin started to wear off. The dark haired man had spent all of his time worrying about Lando that it felt sort of welcoming to know that there had been someone out there worrying about _him_ , too.

As this thought crossed him, though, Link's eyes suddenly widened as he sharply pushed Rhett away, "Wait, where's Lando, I told you not to leave him?"

"He's fine, he's fine," Rhett tried to reassure him, "He's just being checked over at the other ambulance, Locke and Shepherd are with him."

Feeling his frantic emotions subside, Link sheepishly nodded his head, "Are they okay?"

"They're fine. A little shaken up, but fine."

At this revelation, all that the two long-time friends could do was fall back to silence. There were about a thousand people doing about million things all around them, but it all seemed like mere background noise for Rhett and Link as they awkwardly held a gaze with one another. Neither of them were one hundred percent certain of what they should say. The three kids were all okay, so that was the most important factor sufficiently covered. But now, where did the two internetainers stand with each other?

The last thing that Link had spoken to Rhett that afternoon was basically telling him to screw off, but that was _only_ because Rhett had carelessly made light of Link's threat to walk out on him in the middle of a show. They had both said some pretty harsh things – things that, of course, they hadn't necessarily meant… but now, how were they supposed to come back from it all?

"Mr. Neal?"

With these concerned thoughts still consuming both of them, Rhett and Link were suddenly snapped out of their wordless trance as a second paramedic approached them, headed towards Link.

"Mr. Neal, I'm going to need to advise you to lie down," the man pressed on. He had dirty, blonde hair combed neatly on the top of his head and a small pair of glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose which he pushed up as he tried to convince Link to lie back on the gurney, "My team and I need to quickly check you over here before we take you to the hospital."

"What? No! No, I'm not lying down," Link continued to argue, "Not until I see my – "

"Mr. Neal?" came the sudden addition of a new voice, cutting Link off, "I'm Officer Reynolds, this is my partner, Officer Tolman."

Rhett could easily tell by how quickly Link had snapped his neck up and glared at the male officer and his female counterpart just how much his best friend was about to snap. Link was a short tempered person by nature anyway, but the more people who came up to hassle him, and the further away he got being reunited with Lando, the closer he was creeping towards completely blowing up.

"We'd just like to ask you a couple of questions about the incident that's occurred here this afternoon."

"Ask _me_?" Link spat in disbelief, "How about questioning the punk that hit me instead?"

"Look, I'm sorry," the paramedic cut back in, directing his attention to the officers, "But Mr. Neal really needs to come back to the hospital with us right now."

"Well, we really need to piece together this accident as much as possible before the vehicles are cleared," Officer Tolman jumped in, "Before he goes anywhere, Mr. Neal needs to – "

"No, just stop!" Link abruptly thundered, throwing his arms out to the side. He cringed at a painful twinge he felt shoot up his thigh and shrugged away from Rhett's attempted grasp at his shoulder, "I'm not talking to anybody and I'm not going anywhere until I _see my son_!"

"Link, okay, buddy, I'll go get him for you," Rhett spoke, gently bringing his hand back to his friend's shoulder. He braced himself to be harshly shoved away again, but this time as Link welcomed his comforting touch, Rhett glanced at the blonde paramedic, "Surely he and his kid can travel in the same ambulance, right?"

There was only a slim wave of hesitation from the paramedic before, of course, he nodded his head. Breathing a subtle sigh of relief, Rhett impulsively patted Link where he held him, and then dashed back over to where Lando and the other two boys were still waiting near the first ambulance.

The gloomy expression on Lando's sad little face seemed to brighten slightly as he spotted Rhett re-approaching him. Grinning down at him, the tall, blonde man quickly turned his attention to Doctor Graham, "How's he doing?"

The doctor reflected Rhett's positive appearance, "A little bumped, a little bruised, but otherwise completely fine."

"Well, thank goodness," Rhett sang out, ruffling up Lando's hair and causing a small smirk to finally cross his face, "Look, his dad's dying to see him, and they're gonna' go to the hospital in the same ambulance, so – "

"Of course, of course," Doctor Graham cut in, obviously aware of what Rhett was trying to ask, "Take him on over, I'm sure he's pretty desperate to see his daddy, too."

The eager nature in which Lando projected his arms forward beckoning for his dad's best friend to pick him up made Rhett's entire core settle in relief. He shot Doctor Graham a final, thankful smile as he scooped Lando up in his arms and shifted him onto one hip. He gestured for Locke and Shepherd to follow him, reaching his right hand down towards his youngest son.

"Shep," he spoke affectionately, taking the seven year old's hand back in his as the four of them safely wandered over to where Link was preparing to be loaded into the second ambulance.

The precise moment that Lando laid his eyes on Link, the small, blonde boy felt a single tear or two well up in his wide eyes, "Daddy?" he murmured quietly to Rhett.

"Yeah, bud," Rhett confirmed sweetly, "There's Daddy, he's okay."

Link sensed his whole body shudder and crumble as an emotional wave of reprieve totally crashed over him. Rhett gently let go of Shepherd's hand as Link stretched his arms out and near enough begged for Lando to be placed into his embrace. Instantly, he squeezed his little boy with all the warmth and love that he could muster.

"Hey, buddy," he exclaimed. As Lando burrowed his face deep into the crook of Link's shoulder, the dark haired man tenderly cupped the back of his head and kissed him on the cheek. He sighed sadly, whispering ever so quietly into Lando's little ear, "I'm sorry, son."

Hearing this sent a twinging ache shooting through Rhett's heart. None of this was Link's fault – none of it at all. Glancing over his shoulder, the taller man spitefully shook his head to discover that the two police officers were now talking to the young man who had caused the accident. Hopefully, if they had any sense at all, the guy wouldn't be on the road again for a long time.

Shaking off the vengeful thought, though, Rhett soon turned back to find Lando adjusting himself in Link's lap. The small boy shuffled in his spot, planting himself firmly onto his dad's right knee, causing Link to suddenly jolt in painful surprise.

"Ah, careful, buddy, careful. That's the leg I hurt," he hissed, shifting Lando onto his other knee.

Watching on in silence up until this point, Locke cringed at Link's abrupt cries, "Are you okay, Link?"

Smiling down at the curly haired eleven year old, Link smiled, nodding his head, "Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, looking back down to Lando, "Are you alright now, too, Lando?"

Instantly, the little blonde boy nodded his head, as well. He licked his lips and gazed up at Link, watching as his dad locked vision with his baby blue eyes. And then, he quietly cleared his throat, "Rhett got me."

An array of goosebumps went flying over both Link and Rhett's arms at Lando's words. All that the younger man could do was hug his son again as he mulled over the three simple syllables he had managed to speak.

Link shuddered to think what may have happened to Lando and who might have been there to calm him and protect him if not for Rhett. Looking up to his best friend, he stayed silent for a moment.

It was as if all of a sudden, it didn't matter how much they had been snapping each other over the last week, or what Rhett may have said about him on Good Mythical More, or how much of a jerk he may have been acting like during their fight. And as he stared back down at him, Rhett felt it all, too. He didn't care about any mistakes Link had made, or how sensitive he may have been acting, or how harshly he may have spoken to him.

None of it mattered. Not anywhere near as much as the fact that they had almost lost each other.

"Man," Link started, trying to stutter out his sentence, "Rhett, I'm never gonna' be able to thank – "

"I know, man, I know," Rhett cut him off, saving him from apologising. Smirking down at Link, he soon shot back the same appreciative grin. As guilty as Rhett may have originally felt, swapping "sorrys" had never particularly been their thing.

"Hey, you'd better call Christy," the bearded man quickly added.

"Oh, God no, man, not yet," Link spoke, shaking his head, "I'm not gonna' tell her we're just on our way to the hospital and then have her sitting around worrying about us. We'll just go there, get checked out, get the all clear, and then I'll ring her and tell her everything."

Rhett nodded his head in agreement. Any hint of even a slight tragedy would undoubtedly have Christy rushing back from their girls' weekend within a second, especially with Jessie and Lily there to worry along with her, as well.

"But," Link reiterated, "Could you… Could you go get Lincoln from his friend's place for me and bring him to the hospital?"

Rhett's answer was immediate, "Of course, man."

Link smiled, "I'd text you the address, but, uh…" he trailed off, gesturing to the wreck of a minivan which was finally being moved off the road, "I'm pretty sure my phone's more than a little dead right now."

For a couple of seconds, the two men simply gazed at each other in silence before the burst out in an array of chuckles. As they shook their heads at each other, they could barely believe that they were managing to find the humour in something as dire as what had happened. And not only that, but it was probably also the first time that they had shared a genuine laugh with one another in well over a week.

Keeping this thought in mind, Link pressed his lips together before going on, "It's on Shakespeare Lane, anyways. It's a really short street, and it's right down the end with a huge, red front door, you can't miss it."

Again, Rhett nodded his head, "Sure thing, buddy."

And then, there was quiet once more.

As Link held Lando, and Rhett gathered Locke and Shepherd by his sides, they both watched as the paramedics finally began to prepare the loading of the gurney. It had definitely been one whirlwind, hurtful, terrifying and relieving afternoon all mixed into one. But everything that preceded it was only a distant thought in the past now. All that mattered was that Link and Lando were being loaded into the back of the ambulance with full consciousness and near perfect health.

Feeling his chest swell in happiness at this thought, Rhett licked his lips, "I'll cya' at the hospital, man."

Sweeping his hair to one side, Link took a tight hold of Lando and simply gazed back at Rhett with a warm, grateful smile.

"Alright."

The taller man's expression mirrored his partner's.

"Alright."

As he finally conceded to lying properly on the stretcher with Lando comfortably by his side, Link peered out of the corner of his eye as he watched Rhett, Locke and Shepherd head back towards their truck.

Never again was the younger man going to let an argument with his best friend explode to such an extent. After all, he now knew just how much and how quickly everything could truly change.

"Hey, Rhett?"

Coming to a halt and looking back over his shoulder, Rhett raised a curious eyebrow. Sniggering to himself, Link smirked teasingly, "I'm still mad at you."

Echoing his best friend's obnoxious snickers, Rhett could only shake his head. They may have drove each other absolutely insane sometimes, but Rhett knew that no matter how hard they butted heads, they would always find a way to gently bounce back.

They were best friends of thirty years. And they were stuck with each other.

"Man, get over yourself!"

* * *

 **Well, hello there fellow Mythical Beasts!**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this sweet little three-shot - which turned out to be a lot longer than I was expecting! :) I've got about a million more cute little story ideas like this one, so hopefully I'll bring a few more GMM fics really soon!**

 **Please leave a review and let me know what you thought, I truly appreciate it :)**

 **Till next time guys,**

 **Reneyyyyyyy x**


End file.
